Between Reformation and Revolution
the Catholic Church had to deal with
complex problems:
1. Papal authority was still challenged. Conciliarism was seeking to
focus church on the bishops. Clergymen tried to preserve their influence
while the territorial states were a
menace to their territories.
2. Science became a new challenge.
Before that the Church alone claimed
to explain the world: From now on the
empirical method was the only reasonable way of seeing the world.
As a result there were two reactions:
1. The Jesuit Order was responsible
to justify the religious affiliation
by valid arguments. A conscious and
voluntary choice to take part in a
clerical way of life had to be assured by conviction. Due to a scientific
education the Jesuits wanted to be
able to take part in discussions so
that the further development of
science would not lead to an inevitable alienation.
2. Church intensified the possibility of an emotional tie by employing
baroque forms of expression. The
governing body of the church used
several types of art and thus tried
to emphasize the clerical predominance and importance as did the
secular sovereign. As long as emotion and intellect are combined the
identification with a conviction
could be consolidated.